(energetic music) - Plan-B Theatre's world premier of "Balthazar" is a riff on Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice," and a life and death journey through the law, love, and gender identity.

Joining us from Southern Utah today is playwright Debora Threedy.

Debora, welcome.

I really am dying to talk to you about this play, because it's very interesting.

Talk about what inspired you to write "Balthazar."

- I remember exactly when the inspiration hit me.

I was rereading "The Merchant of Venice" at the crucial courtroom scene, and the idea popped into my head that that couldn't have been the first time that Portia dressed as a man.

She wouldn't have done it.

She had to have done this before.

And so the play became an exploration of the answer to the question of why and how she decided to dress like a man.

- Okay, and I know it doesn't change anything from the play, but you create her and this what if kind of scenario out of that.

Talk about that a little more and how people don't really need to be familiar with "The Merchant of Venice" to appreciate "Balthazar."

- Absolutely.

There is no need to be familiar with "The Merchant of Venice," to have ever read it, to know anything about it.

The play stands very much on its own.

If you do know the play, it becomes a game of finding the Easter eggs that are hidden in the play that refer to Shakespeare's play, but it's not necessary to enjoy the play.

- Great, and I know you workshopped this and it's been kind of 10 years in development, and you had a reading at the Shakespeare Festival, I think.

- Right, there were several readings at the Shakespeare Festival, and they were amazingly well received.

That's why I know you don't need to know Shakespeare's play, because we asked audience members if they'd ever seen Merchant, and there were people who had not, and yet they enjoyed the play and could follow it perfectly.

- Great, and now it comes to Plan-B, and I thank you so much for being here.

Thanks, Debora.

And if you'd like to know more about Debora Threedy's "Balthazar" opening February 15th at Plan-B Theater in Salt Lake City, go to planbtheatre.org.

That's planbtheatre.org.

I'm Mary Dickson.

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